Final Fantasy Christmas: Ivalice Alliance
by Rhodes's
Summary: A star has crashed into Ivalice, forcing the heroes from the FF Ivalice Alliance to join force on a dark conspiracy that could put an end to Christmas and the world. COMPLETE!
1. Story Plots

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix._**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete_**

**_The Christmas characters: Santa Claus and the reindeers belong to Christmas_**

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

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**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS –IVALICE ALLIANCE  
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Story Plot**-**It was the last day of school at the Royal Academy of Magick in Gariland and Kyle Nasher, an intrepid citizen of the city of Vales at the Royal Capital Ivalice, has given a shining star to his best friend Valeria, daughter of the town magistrate, as a Christmas/farewell gift. He soon finds out that the star is the legendary Christmas Star, the mysterious treasure that has crashed at the center of the Bevernia Palace following the earthquake triggered by Vaan and the sky pirates. Upon receiving a written request from an old wise man known as Lord Atnas, Kyle sets off on the road to the sky city of Bujherba where Valeria is spending the holidays to retrieve the Christmas star from her. Unknown to him, someone else is after the star, and they are willing to kill for it. 

**Final Fantasy XII and XII Revenant Wings Plot**

**-**Vaan, Penelo, Balthier and Fran have used the power of Celestial Auracite to cause turmoil all over Ivalice. Following the earthquake, a shooting star crashed right at the center of Bevernia Palace, situated at the Bevernia Free City, ruled by a tyrant queen. Soon, news of the Christmas Star and a certain wise man with the knowledge of a Christmas legend reached the sky pirates and they set off to the sky to find him and the Christmas Star wielder. Upon arriving at the sky sea between the sky city and the Royal Capital, they cross path with Ramza and Delita.

**Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions Plot**

**-**BothRamza and Delita have taken the guise of one of Queen Remedi's judges: Judge Beoulve and Judge Heiral. They were both given the task to find and find and kill Valeria and retrieve the Christmas Star. However, unbeknownst to the queen, Ramza is a knight serving the High Throne: the Lionheart. Delita too. However, unbeknownst to Ramza, Delita is secretly working for the Judge of Wings, on a dark conspiracy to overthrow not just the Bevernian Queen, but also the Lionhearts and Santa Claus to fulfill a dark legend associated with the Christmas legend.

**Final Fantasy Tactics Advance**

**-**Queen Remedi gathered her multitude of judges to go after Kyle before he could reach Valeria while she personally summoned the aid of two special judges: Ramza and Delita, to find Valeria and the Christmas Star. The queen's reason to get the Christmas Star is to use its power to grant her her ultimate Christmas wish: to overthrow the Lionheart and grant her the High Seat of Ivalice. Yet this wish could very well be the start of another war.

**Final Fantasy Tactics A2 Plot**

**-**Game hunter Luso, alongside Cid, Adel and Hurdy have also taken the Lord Atnas' mission to retrieve the Christmas Star before it falls into the wrong hands. They have traveled to the sky city of Bujherba to confirm the request from Atnas and Kyle must find them and join them in the search. But then the company starts to lose focus after crossing path with Master Darlavon, a mentor to the prince Lionheart.

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**Coming Up: Chapter 1**

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	2. Chapter 1: The Christmas Star

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix._**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete_**

**_The Christmas characters belong to Christmas_**

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

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**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS –IVALICE ALLIANCE  
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**Chapter 1 - The Christmas Star  
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"Galactical Auracite"

Vaan's eyes were glued at a scarlet diamond-shaped stone, glimmering brightly at a small obscured altar inside the Glabados Ruins.

"It is said that the auracite has the power to summon monsters and creatures." Balthier peered on a manuscript describing the artifact, "this particular auracite however has the power to control anything even the universe."

"Can it move galaxies?" Vaan asked, his eyes still on the stone, not paying a slight of attention.

"It depends." Balthier shrugged.

"We don't know what this auracite can do." Fran said, "If what Balthier says is true, about the Galactical Auracite, touching it could bring unspeakable matter."

"What is wrong with touching a treasure?" Vaan brought his hand closer to the treasure.

SLAP! His hand quickly withdrew from the slap. He faced the person who slapped him. It was Penelo, and she looked at him wildly.

"You're not supposed to touch it!" she exclaimed.

"Aw come on! It was just a joke." Vaan grinned, "I wasn't going to touch it. Honestly."

The gang saw through Vaan's eyes. The young sky pirate with no hesitation wanted to grab the Auracite. He wanted it so badly that he was practically drooling. The gang got worried.

"Y'know what? I think I sense someone coming." Fran quickly said, catching Vaan's attention.

"What? Do you think we should—?" Balthier asked.

"It's best that we get out of here while we still can." Fran proposed.

"Well then let's get out." Vaan said and as he spun on his heels to take off, his shoulder gave the Auracite a strong nudge that in a quick second, the stone left its altar only to land on the hard floor.

CRASH!

The stone shattered into a million pieces. The gang stared at the glass bits on the floor, jaws hanged open.

"What did you do!?" Fran screamed.

"N-Nothing. I didn't—" He tried to explain the situation, but his mind went blank. Suddenly there was a crash at the entrance of the altar. The gang turned to watch a pile of rocks brought down into the floor and blocking the exit like a storming rainfall. It was so quick, they had no idea what happened. Then the floor started shaking uncontrollably.

"What's happening?" Penelo screamed through the horrendous noise.

"It seems the Auracite has unleashed its power!" Balthier shouted as well, "We must vanish from this place if we don't want the ruins to take us into our own graves!"

"But there's no way out!" Vaan reminded Balthier.

"Of course there isn't!" Balthier went for the altar's far wall and the others followed. He laid a hand on a brick and the wall shifted open, causing more tremors in the room.

"Come on!" Balthier ordered, and the gang fled down the passageway. They skidded around a corner, darted through a secluded corridor, circled a twisted stairway and emerged through the exit.

But then for some reason they stopped. They were outside yet it didn't feel right. It didn't feel safe. The ground was still shaking!

"What's going on?" Penelo cried.

"The whole world is shaking!" Balthier said.

Penelo angrily stared at Vaan, "This is all your fault Vaan!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Vaan cried, "It was an… accident?"

The entire world stopped shaking right after Vaan said "accident." The gang looked around. The ground wasn't thrashing anymore. They turned behind to see the Glabados Ruins still intact. It all looked like the tremor never happen.

"What happened?" muttered Fran.

Vaan scratched his blond head, "Everything stopped."

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This is the story of a lost tale that has never been told among the many other tales of Ivalice. It was a tale that happened in Ivalice many years ago, from Rabanastre to Bevernia Palace, across Bhujerba and the continent. It was an adventure that happened around the Christmas season and during the closing of yet another year.

In those days, Ivalice had a Royal Capital, and it laid at the very center of the continent. The Royal Capital is known for its militia of law enforcers and a royal family that is based on a lineage of legendary monarchs. It was also known for its peaceful serene environment: cosmic meadows, crystal-clear lakes, and a city with countless-stories buildings. Vales, the Royal city laid in the south. There lived a 19-year old intrepid named Kyle Nasher. Simple-minded and full of spirits, Kyle dwelled at the far corner of the city's marketplace at Mikoto's Magick shop, where he was raised from only an orphan infant by Sage Mikoto, an elderly Nu Mou of only about four feet tall. Despite her age, she was very well respected by the people and Kyle would call her Grandmom. Besides Mikoto was also a parrot. Her talking talk-a-lot pet parrot named Perry who is always up to something whenever the sage was absent.

Kyle went to school most of his times, and his latest enrollment was at the Academy of Magick at the Magic City of Gariland four miles from Vales. Mikoto's desire for Kyle was to take over the family business, but what Kyle really craved for was to explore the world.

It was the last day of class before the start of the Christmas season and as soon as the academy's big clock rang its last glorious bell, everyone went about their preparations to leave the academy and to start their holiday season. Kyle was running down the hallways looking frantic. He was actually looking for someone…fast.

"Hey Kyle!" A voice called him. Kyle whipped his head around to see a young dark-skinned man around his age, wearing a shirt and a red jacket underneath, with matching pants and boots.

"Whatcha doing? Are you playing hide n' seek with Ezel Berbier again?" the man laughed when he noticed Kyle looking around frenetically.

"I'm not playing hide n' seek, Brad. I'm looking for Valeria." Kyle replied, still looking distracted.

"Oh, her. Last time I checked, she was at the courtyard. Why? Do you need her or something?"

Kyle finally turned his attention to Brad, "Yes. Bad."

Kyle took off for the courtyard. He twisted around a corner, sprinted through the corridor and pulled out of the academy into the courtyard, all while squeezing his way through the crowding students.

He looked around. Where was she? His blue eyes wandered across the courtyard until it fixed on a red-haired teenager wearing a white blouse with yellow linings, a matching skirt and boots that reached the knees. He smiled and went for the girl.

"Valeria!" he called.

The girl turned around to see him. She smiled at his presence, "Kyle."

Kyle stopped and when he was about to utter another word, nothing but heavy wheezing came out. Valeria looked concern, "What is it? Is everything all right?"

Kyle shook his head, "…no…everything's… I mean…fine." He sighed, "Everything is fine."

Valeria looked concern, "Are you sure? Cause you sound like you're about to collapse any second."

"Too much running… anyway…" Kyle sat his butt on the ground before letting out a deep breath.

"Kyle. I thought you got over with the fact that I'm leaving for Bhujerba to spend Christmastime with my family, but don't take this the wrong way, it's not the end of the world. You'll still see me."

Kyle laughed, "No, no, no. My midlife crisis is over _long _before you even started packing your bags. It just that I…" Kyle stopped, "Wait. This is not comfortable."

Kyle stood up and brushed the sand off his butt. Valeria laughed. No matter what the situation, Kyle always managed to make Valeria laugh. He then reached down the left pocket of his baggy white shorts to pull out a white shining stone.

Valeria gasped at the sight of the stone, "Oh my goodness, Kyle…"

"Merry Christmas, Valeria." Kyle smiled.

"This is…this is…" she was at a loss of words.

"…a star, I know." Kyle finished, "But in my defense, it was a shooting star."

Valeria looked up to Kyle questionably. Kyle continued, "Remember yesterday when I went on my latest game mission to rescue Mrs. Potpourrisan's cat from under the tree? Well, after that, I was heading home and I saw that star there right in the middle of the Bevernia Palace Courtyard. If you saw the courtyard's grass, it looked like it burnt."

"But Kyle…Bevernia Palace, won't you get in trouble again with the Judges?" Valeria reminded Kyle of all the time he had with the judges. The judges and Kyle, only and has always been, equaled to trouble—illegal trouble. One time the judges locked Kyle in a dungeon for a crime he didn't even commit. To the people, Kyle was full-spirited and adventurous, but to the judges he was a sneaky loose criminal rat.

"Bah who cares about them judges?" Kyle blew a raspberry, "they may rule the city but they can't rule the continent."

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"With this star, the wielder gets granted power to rule the continent…or perhaps even the world." One of the judges among a circle of judges breathed. 

These law enforcers, clad in silver armor, peered through the crystal ball as Kyle and Valeria shared a farewell hug.

"Now this star has fallen into the hands of first a measly rat and now that girl." Another one of the judges muttered.

"What other more proofs do we need?" The third judge asked.

The fourth judge muttered, "The queen is not going to like this."

A glacial voice suddenly knifed through the room, literally blew the crystal ball into a wall shattering it into pieces. "Of course I ain't gonna like this!!" It said.

The judges turned to face the source: a brown haired woman of regal status, with an ancient sign of the forehead and wearing a long-height dark colored dress. The judges at the sight of the woman immediately submitted themselves.

"Queen Remedi." The first Judge gulped, "I assume you saw that huh?"

"Find me this star. Find me this girl." She hissed, "This star is property of the Bevernia Royal Lineage. Any criminal who put their hand on that star shall be executed."

"Executed?" the third judge gulped.

"Your Majesty," the fourth judge approached the queen, "you're talking about the daughter of Vales' magistrate."

"I don't care who's daughter this is!" She said in a glacial tone, "Just find me the girl. This star must be retrieved… oh, and have the rest of the judges and your best knights find me that boy too. He's the reason I've lost my star, and he must die first."

**

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**Coming Up: Chapter 2**

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	3. Chapter 2: To Bhujerba, the skycity

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix._**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete_**

**_The Christmas characters belong to Christmas_**

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

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**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance**

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**Chapter 2 – To Bhujerba, the skycity **

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The queen, for a long time now, has craved for complete control over Ivalice. To be able to seat in the High Throne has always been her dream. But then that dream couldn't be achieve because only a blood-related member of House Lionheart was eligible to rule the high seat. And she was not a Lionheart by blood.

She knew that the earthquake triggered by the sky pirates was a sign. And a sign it was indeed. Just as the lost legend of Christmas foretold, "an earthquake followed by a stone, in the midst of a royal soil it will land, and whoever possesses it will gain total dominance over the land."

The legend sound skeptical, and hard to decode, but the queen, after many years of hardcore studying at the academy, knew exactly what it was about. But what she didn't know was that among her judges, two of them were spies.

The two judges watched her heading down her bedchamber and as soon as she disappeared before their very eyes, they removed their masks: Ramza and Delita!

"Well, that is an unfortunate turn of events, wouldn't you say Delita?" Ramza asked Delita, but he didn't seem to respond. He looked like he was lost in his own world.

"Delita?" Ramza called again.

Delita snapped back to reality, "Uh…wh-what? Oh, Ramza."

"Delita. You look odd. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine." Delita quickly responded, "Nothing new whatsoever."

"Nothing new?" Ramza scratched his head, "Didn't you not hear the Queen? If she wants that star so badly, she wants power."

"And if power is what she wants, Ivalice is what she desires." Delita replied.

"And if she wants Ivalice, we won't give it to her." A voice spooked the two friends. They turned around to see a young man in his twenties. He had jet black hair and a killer smile. He wore a white hooded sportswear, with a black T-shirt underneath it, baggy pants to match the color of the sportswear and black Velcro shoes. The man was escorted by Master Darlavon (_Final Fantasy Tactics PSP_), a much older guy with a white beard and with a serene expression. He wore a scarf around his neck and sported a heavy blue velvet robe with white faux-fur.

At the sight of the first man, Ramza and Delita bowed, "Your Highness," they greeted.

The man shook his head, "Dudes. How many times have I told you about this posture? It makes me so uncomfortable."

"Does your Royal family not awaiting you on the Christmas ventures, Sir Prince?" Delita asked, "Seems you possess no trust in us."

The prince shook his head, "I possess no patience in this matter, as are you, Delita."

"Wrong are you, Prince Dirk. I am within the moment. Patience is my virtue." Delita countered.

Ramza chuckled under his breath. Delita shot a glare at Ramza, "What? You find this amusing?!"

"Uh-Huh!" Ramza nodded, " 'Patience is my virtue' my a—"

"So what is your plan of assault, prince?" Delita interrupted.

"None," Dirk said, "Just go on with her orders, except for the killing part. Protect the girl instead, until this whole thing gets settled."

"Right." Both Ramza and Delita responded and then left.

"Prince Dirk," Master Darlavon began, "I understand your concern about the queen's plot, but shouldn't you be heading on home and go on with your holiday shopping? You're way behind on your list."

Dirk faced Darlavon, "Shouldn't you be somewhere else too, Master? Stop worrying yourself. The Lionhearts are going nowhere."

Dirk took off. Darlavon simply sighed, "You're right. I do have to be somewhere else, sir."

Dirk stopped, faced Darlavon and chuckled, "You're kidding? Where exactly? The North Pole?"

Darlavon replied with only an innocent smile.

**

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News of the earthquake triggered by the Galactical Auracite quickly infested Ivalice like the plague. Everyone feared the end of the world was drawing near, but no one knew when and how it will happen.

To Kyle, that news was none of his concerns. He wouldn't let something as troubling as the beginning of the end ruin his Christmas season. His Grandmom the sage Mikoto was inviting her tribal family over for the holiday, and he got extra shifts at the local tavern to earn some compensation and valuable prizes on extra missions.

The moment he entered the tavern, it was crowded with people of all races: mostly Humes, Bangaas, and Vieras. He looked around and caught a glimpse of Tomaj (_Final Fantasy XII _and_ FFXII –Revenant Wings_). But Tomaj was not in his usual cheery mood.

"Hey Tomaj. What's up?" he asked when approached him.

Tomaj shook his head, "Hey Kyle. You're not going to believe this latest mission."

"A game mission?"

"No, a _real_ mission. It's posted all over the tavern. Take a look." Tomaj then pulled out one of the posted papers off the wall and handed it over for Kyle to read.

Kyle scrolled through the parched piece of paper, "Whoa, a Christmas Star…" as he kept reading his face went blank, "wait a minute…" his eyes scrolled back to the beginning of the posted mission request and desperately checked for errors. Not grammatical errors.

He looked up to Tomaj, "Is this a trick?"

"You call what is happening, a trick?" a squawking voice alerted. It was Perry the Parrot. It flew right over Kyle and Tomaj and sat its scaly feet on a table.

"What are you doing here Perry?" Kyle sighed.

"Your grandmother is worried about you! Ever since the earthquake she hasn't heard from you. How can you do that to her poor heart?"

"The earthquake was yesterday." Kyle said, "And Grandmom saw me then. You're just lying."

"I'm not lying!"

Kyle faced Tomaj, ignoring the parrot, "So what are you saying? Who posted this?"

"Some wizard named Atnas." Tomaj said before looking around, "He doesn't seem to be here at the tavern but—"

"—he may have more information." Kyle then shook his head, "but I just can't believe it. There's no such thing."

"But the proof is all in the eye of the beholder." Perry then snatched the paper from Kyle and read it.

"Hey!" Kyle said.

"It says so right there: 'Please locate the Christmas Star. This legendary artifact has recently crashed into Ivalice right in the midst of the Bevernia Palace the day after the worldly earthquake. This star must be returned to the North-Pole of the Northern Skies by midnight Christmas Eve or else Christmas will die."

Perry's eyes goggled up in shock, "Christmas will _die_?!"

"I thought you were aware of the situation." Kyle said.

"I am aware of an earthquake and the end of the world…"

Kyle couldn't help but roll his eyes when Perry said that. The parrot went on, "…but for the love of all that is precious in the world, why does Christmas has to share that same fate?!"

Kyle faced Tomaj, "Look, I gotta find that Atnas person." He said, "There's _no_ way he would have written this. And besides, that star didn't look that Christmassy."

"Didn't?" Tomaj muttered, "Wait, you saw the star?"

Kyle froze. Tomaj and Perry didn't know he gave the star to Valeria as her Christmas/farewell gift and he couldn't think fast on how to explain this, "Well," he gulped.

Tomaj and Perry stared suspiciously at Kyle. Kyle sighed, "I found the star, the Christmas Star, or whatever that is…but there's no such thing—"

"So what are you saying? It's gone?" Perry balked.

"Not really gone. It's with Valeria. I gave it to her as a farewell/Christmas gift."

"Kyle, this star could be unleashing pure evil if it falls into the wrong hands." Tomaj explained.

"But Valeria is no evil." Kyle said.

"You gotta get it back from her." Tomaj said, "She's leaving for Bhujerba, right?"

"She already left."

Perry jumped on Kyle and squawked endlessly, "Christmas will die because of you!"

"Relax Perry." Kyle said, "I'll get the star back. But first, we must locate the proof."

"What proof? It's all on the manuscript!" Perry shouted.

"Not that proof. The proof is in the source."

"You mean…"

"That's right. I'm finding Atnas."

Just as Kyle was about to take off, Tomaj stopped him, "Wait Kyle. Before you go, I must tell you. Where are you going to find Atnas exactly?"

Kyle froze. He had no idea where and how he will locate the old man.

"You can't just go on a perilous quest without knowing where you're going first!" Perry balked.

"You're not the boss of me!" Kyle snapped at the parrot.

"Lucky for you," Tomaj interrupted the duo before it got ugly, "I know Atnas's exact location: the sky city of Bhujerba itself…"

"Why didn't you tell us that _before?_" Perry screamed.

Tomaj grinned, ignoring the parrot, "…hey, that means you can find both Atnas _and_ Valeria at the same time!"

"This journey's going to be a piece of cake. Thanks, Tomaj!" Kyle took off.

"Wait, Kyle!" Tomaj shouted for him but he was gone. Tomaj scratched his head, "…how are you going to pay for travel?"

**

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"Welcome to the Ivalice Aerodrome. How may I serve you?" the receptionist smiled at Kyle.

"Two tickets to Bhujerba. One for me and one for Beaky over here." Kyle said.

"HEY!" Perry squawked.

"Sure, May I see your passport?"

Kyle froze. He didn't bring any passport with him. In fact, he doesn't even have one. Usually when he traveled, it was either by foot or by a chocobo he would usually steal.

"Do you have your reservation seats tickets?" the receptionist asked next.

Kyle slowly, ashamedly, shook his head. The receptionist's smile slowly faded.

"Do you have money?"

"OKAY! I'M BROKE! I'M SORRY! BUT it's the holidays!! Can you at least help a brother out?"

The receptionist was no longer smiling, "Sorry. You must have your passport, your reservation seats tickets, your destination tickets, your travel brochure, your luggage, and money to use our service. And FYI, you're not my brother. Buh-bye!" she waved.

Kyle slowly dragged himself away from the receptionist's desk, head down.

"How imbecile are you?!" Perry screamed, "How can you not know you needed all of this to travel to Bhujerba?!"

"I thought it wasn't required. Cut me some slack will ya?"

While Perry was giving Kyle a scolding, three of the Queen's Judges were watching the duo from behind: Bergan (_Final Fantasy XII_), Folmarv (_Final Fantasy Tactics PSP_), and Illua (_Final Fantasy Tactics A2_), all clad in judge costumes. They approached Kyle, with that look in their eyes like they were about to strike at any second, especially Folmarv.

"Wait, Folmarv." Illua stopped him, "Not yet."

"What do you mean, not yet?"

"Now is not a good time. Let's wait till he's all alone first." Illua said.

"Then we'll strike him?" Bergan asked.

Illua shook her head, "No. then we wait till he falls asleep."

"_Then_ we strike him?"

"No."

"Sheesh! Enough of the negativity." Folmarv balked.

"Okay, got any better ideas?" Illua hissed.

"I say we strike him here and now." Bergan mumbled.

"How about we do this." Illua pulled out her Grimoire. She nodded to the two judges as a signal. The judges immediately knew what she was up to. Bergan pulled out his manufacted nethicite and Folmarv pulled out his Zodiac Stone Leo. The two stones hovered above the Grimoire and a black ball started growing and the earth started to shake.

Everyone in the Aerodrome took notice of the quake but not of the three sinister judges who were behind this.

"Another earthquake?" Perry panicked.

Kyle tried to hold on to his seat while everyone were tumbling and screaming for their lives. The quake was so strong, he knew he would lose his balance if he was not careful, "Just stay put!" he told the parrot.

What Kyle didn't know was that the black ball the trio of pure evil created was targeting him from behind. Perry saw this and got alerted, "Watch out!"

A shield suddenly enveloped Kyle and the black ball connected with it, causing Kyle to shake violently and lose his balance. Fortunately he didn't get any bruises.

The earthquake seized and everyone muttered worryingly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, if you could please make a single file and try not to panic, officials will be arriving shortly to check up on injuries and complains." The PA system announced.

"Kyle, are you okay?" Perry asked.

"Did you feel that earthquake?" Kyle asked the parrot.

"Everybody felt it."

"But the last one really knocked off my balance! It was like something just hit me hard by surprise."

Perry frowned. There _was_ something that hit Kyle hard, and it came from a trio of judges. "Do you _really_ wanna know?" Perry pointed its wing toward the judges behind Kyle. Kyle turned around, but he didn't pay attention to what Perry was pointing at. Instead, he caught sight of an overweight Seeq having an argument with Master Darlavon. The seeq was a Viking, sporting a green Viking jacket, brown rugged pants, an orange scarf attached at the waist, holding two pouches on both sides and green boots. His horn was blue, and he carried an axe.

"How can I stay calm at a time like this?" the seeq bellowed, "How am I supposed to sail the skies if I can't find my lucky compass? Damn that earthquake."

"Now, now sir. You won't find that compass if you keep on ranting. You just have to relax. Let the mellow flow within you." Master Darlavon said.

"Oh, my mellow is flowing all right. Right up your nostrils!!!"

Master Darlavon sighed, "Now, you're being hostile."

Kyle faced Perry, "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, mellow up my nostrils? Nasty." Perry shuddered.

Kyle shook his head, "No, no, no. That seeq. He's our ticket to Bhujerba. He's a sky pirate."

"You mean a sky Viking." Perry corrected, "Kyle, we don't know if we can trust this seeq."

"I can." Kyle approached the seeq and Master Darlavon while dragging Perry with him, "Hey, you're a sky pirate right?"

The seeq shot a glare at Kyle, "What the hell is a sky pirate? And who the hell are you?!"

"Well…"

"Bah, who cares?" the seeq blurted out, "What I care about is my lucky compass!"

"Isn't that thing right there in your left pocket?" Kyle pointed at something shiny in the seeq's left pocket. The seeq went through his pocket and pulled out a rubbed silver compass, "Oh."

"Well, what do you know? You found it." Master Darlavon smiled.

"I did, didn't I?" The seeq scratched his head embarrassingly. He turned his attention to Master Darlavon, "So I'm supposed to take you to Bhujerba, no?"

"We wanna go to Bhujerba too!" Kyle waved his hand. Perry squawked in reply. The seeq faced the teen, "I'm sorry. Do I know you?"

Kyle got a bit annoyed, "Hey, let's not forget who helped you find your lucky compass?"

"Look, pipsqueak! My airship only has room for one and you're an addition. Besides, nothing in this vast damned world is going to change my mind!"

"I have 5,000 Gil." Kyle waved a pouch full of coins.

"Welcome aboard." The seeq snatched the money from Kyle's hands, "the name's Lombard. And this fella here is Master Darlavon."

"Nice meeting you sir. I'm—"

"—Kyle Nasher, adopted son of great sage Mikoto of Vales, Royal Capital Ivalice." Darlavon finished.

"Wow. So you do know me? But how?"

"I'm simply an official of the Royal High Seat." Master Darlavon replied, "Nothing more."

"Hellooo. Are we going to sit here to chat or are we going to vamoose to Bhujerba?!" Lombard barked.

**

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**

Balthier's airship—the Strahl—rode the skies of Ivalice, while Vaan and Penelo's airship—the Galbana—simply followed.

Inside the Galbana inhabited Vaan, Penelo, plus Kytes (_Final Fantasy XII _and_ FF XII – Revenant Wings_), Filo (_FF XII – Revenant Wings_) and Montblanc (_all except Final Fantasy Tactics PSP_). Inside the Strahl were Balthier, Fran, plus Nono (_all except Final Fantasy Tactics PSP_). Vaan and Penelo were communicating with Balthier and Fran through an airship communicator.

"So let me get this straight." Vaan began, "The celestial Auracite only summoned a star?"

"A Christmas Star." Fran corrected, "According to legend, this star holds phenomenal powers that can even control the galaxies during the holiday season."

"Wasn't that the same thing we figured out with the celestial Auracite before Vaan broke it?" Penelo asked.

"I told you it was an accident!" Vaan whined.

"Have you told him yet Vaan?" Kytes asked.

"Oh right. Listen, Balthier. Kytes and Filo just came back from the Royal Capital. Apparently, there's been a request posted all over town asking for anyone to bring the Christmas Star up to the North Pole of Northern Skies before Christmas Eve night."

"Wow." Montblanc sulked, "Christmas Eve, kupo. Just the perfect time to do my last-minute holiday shopping and _here_I am riding on an airship on some adventures I don't wanna go to."

The sky pirates ignore Montblanc. Filo continued, "And the petitioner is an old man named Atnas. He lives in Bhujerba."

Vaan and Penelo faced Filo, "ATNAS?" they said his name in shock, so did Balthier and Fran through the communicator.

"You know him?" Filo blinked.

"Well duh." Montblanc moped, "Everyone knows that Atnas is the so-called old man who saved Christmas last year, kupo. He is also known as Santa Claus."

"SANTA CLAUS?!" Both Kytes and Filo screamed.

"He exists?!" Kytes shouted, "Oh dear merciful skies of Ivalice! Santa Claus exists!!"

"Wait. Didn't you believe in Santa Claus before?" Filo eyeballed Kytes.

Kytes eyeballed Filo back, "I didn't believe in Santa Claus because _somebody _told me that there's no such thing as an old man riding on a flying sleigh pulled out by twelve reindeers whilst traveling around the world on one night, delivering gifts to children."

"What dummy ever told you such lies?"

"You did."

"Can we go back to the situation here?" Penelo interrupted, "Where exactly did you say Atnas is living now?"

"The sky city of Bhujerba." Filo replied, "Which reminds me, about the North Pole of Northern Skies's location. I've heard stories that it is found about 500 feet up high above Bhujerba, crossing the violent impregnable sky seas and…"

"What do you say we head for Bhujerba?" Vaan proposed.

"Sounds like a swell idea to me." Fran said.

"Last one there is a rotten chocobo egg!" Balthier mocked.

Suddenly the Strahl zoomed past the Galbana and went in front of the ship, still speeding. Vaan suddenly got mad, "HEY!! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, SPEEDING LIKE YOU'RE NOT CARING?!"

**

* * *

**

**Coming Up: Chapter 3**

* * *


	4. Chapter 3: What they do for Evil

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix._**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete_**

**The Christmas characters belong to Christmas**

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

* * *

**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 3 – What They do for Evil**

**

* * *

**

There were a lot of people in the skycity, especially at the Lhusu Square and the marketplace near Ondore's Estate. Every Bhujerban home and building was in a festive holiday mood: decorations, people dressed in red, white and green; every corner of town had a Christmas tree.

The problem with Bhujerba was the weather. It was a snow day and because the city hovered over the skies of Ivalice, the snowstorm would hit hard. And to the cast of _Final Fantasy Tactics A2, _the weather was a concern they bitterly regretted for ignoring it.

They had just finished their holiday shopping when they stepped into the snow storming city.

"Aw man," Adel whined, "I should've bought those monk's garbs and these assorted leather jackets if I knew it would snow…plus if I still had some gils left."

"Face it Adel," Cid grunted as he dragged a huge sack of gifts. Luso and Hurdy were helping too, "You got everything you want right in there!"

Adel shook her head, "That's not enough. You _should_ have seen those crystal pearls' earrings. Ooh. They're to die for."

"Keep this up, and _we_ might die instead!" Luso barked.

"The holy stone, the light magicite, these yummy basket of caramels…wow, when it comes to the holidays, cool things are totally—OH MY HEAVENS!!!" Adel's eyes fixed on a silver lamp displayed at another bazaar boutique window. The lamp was adorned in eight elemental stones and had the sign of the Zodiac on it as well.

"Is that a magick lamp?" Adel awed.

"Is it the kind that grants wishes? Cause I wish to get my spine back." Hurdy exclaimed.

"You know what grants wishes? The Christmas Star." Luso said, "And we were supposed to find it and bring it to Lord Atnas before it is too late."

"Luso, relax." Adel smiled, "Christmas Eve is not until tomorrow."

"And travel time from here to Bevernia Palace is no longer than 48 hours!" Luso bawled, "Do we wanna save Christmas or not?"

"Of course we wanna save Christmas. We just wanna enjoy it a little bit longer, right guys?" Adel beamed.

"If _we _were enjoying Christmas, we wouldn't be in this mess." Cid mentioned the shopping bags.

Adel ignored Cid, and turned her attention back to the Magick lamp, "Anyway, I have to get that lamp!"

"Hullo!" Cid's eyes were fixed on something interesting: a girl carrying a backpack.

Adel noticed the stare, "Oh, come on Cid! Ever learn of mannerism and respect?"

Cid, still staring, pointed, not at the girl, but at a shining stone insider her backpack, "Christmas Star at twelve o'clock sharp."

The heroes turned their attention to the shining stone inside the bag. It_was _the Christmas Star. Which means the girl was Valeria.

"Let's go to her!" Luso ordered and he, Adel and Hurdy ran up to Valeria, leaving Cid to carry the heavy shopping bag full of gifts all by himself.

"HEY!" Cid screamed.

Valeria turned to notice Luso and the gang running up to her.

"Uh…hi." She greeted bashfully.

"Hi!" Luso greeted back, but before he could utter another word, Valeria asked, "Are you by any chance related to Great Uncle Ondore?"

Great Uncle? The gang beamed when they heard her mention the Marquis as her great uncle.

"Why of course we are!" Luso grinned. Not only that girl was the Christmas Star wielder they were seeking, she was also related to the Marquis Ondore. Convincing her to give up the star to them would be easy.

"We're here to welcome you into our home!" Luso said.

Adel dragged Luso aside, "Excuse me?" she muttered, "What are you doing Luso? We're not related to the Marquis!"

"True." Luso nodded, "But she is. And we know the Marquis. But look at it this way: we take her to her great uncle, we contact Lord Atnas, we'll tell her the truth about the star and she'll cooperate, and before you know it…"

"…Christmas is saved." Adel formed a goofy smile, "Ohh, I get it!"

**

* * *

**

"This is a rather disturbing position that we are in. If they find out—" Marquis Halim Ondore VI (_Final Fantasy XII_) was speaking to someone through a laptop-size communicator.

"They will not, hopefully. Nevertheless, I thank you for your help in buying time." The responded was none other than Master Darlavon, contacting through the communicator inside Lombard's airship.

"You are still coming, yes?"

"I'm on my way." Master Darlavon replied, "I've picked up a ride with a sky Viking here with another passenger and a parrot onboard."

"Good to hear you have company, Master."

"I will be arriving to your estate soon, Marquis. In the meantime, give your great niece a proper welcome."

The Marquis nodded before hanging up the communicator.

"Great Uncle!" Valeria sounded cheerful from a cross the room.

The Marquis turned to face his great niece and smiled at her presence, "Great to see you."

"Great to see you too." Valeria replied, "I have received a gift before my arrival here, the estate. I would love to show it to y—"

"On second thought, don't." the marquis replied, "If such gift can rather be extravagant, might as well keep it."

"Really?" Valeria cocked her head on one side. Usually, the Marquis loves to see the stuffs she would bring to the estate. Was it because he's sick? Or maybe it was the holidays and he thought that she brought him a gift before Christmas Day and wanted him to look at it.

She was about to utter another word when the Marquis grabbed his attention on Luso and company eavesdropping on the conversation.

"Good to see you all. Enjoying the small talk we're having?" he smiled.

Busted, Luso and company tumbled on the ground; after leaning too much.

"Valeria. I'd like to introduce you to Luso and his friends, Adel, Hurdy and…" the Marquis looked around as if searching for someone. His eyes went directly on Luso questionably, "…where is Cid?"

A large crash interrupted the small introduction. Everyone rushed to the corner of the Estate hall to see Cid on the ground, squashed by the heavy shopping bag of gifts. Cid was seeing stars.

"Oh no!" Adel rushed toward Cid. But instead of asking him if _he _was okay, she was asking her wrapped boxes, "Are you okay, sweet pea. Did meanie weenie hurt you?"

"LISTEN GIRLFRIEND, INSTEAD OF BABYSITTING YOUR GIFTS, WHY DON'T YOU HELP OUT THE CARRIER HERE A LITTLE?" Cid whined.

"YOU ALMOST KILLED MY GIFTS AND YOU WANT TO _BE _HELPED OUT? HOW HEARTLESS ARE YOU?!"

* * *

"Master Darlavon, is it?" Kyle took Master Darlavon by surprise. 

"Wh-Why yes of course." The master then smiled, "What can I do for you?"

"Well…see, the thing is…" Kyle didn't know how to explain this, but the situation was so weird, it was as if he was living a dream. Kyle looked down and Master Darlavon followed his gaze, at a tiny chocobo wearing a red velvet coat with white faux-fur edges and a red bonnet hat to match. The Chocobo carried a list and a pen. The chocobo was checking its list, looked up to Kyle, then checked it again. With his pen he scribbled something.

Kyle looked up to Master Darlavon, "You do know that this Chocobo belongs to you, right?"

"Yes of course." Master Darlavon laughed.

"And you _do_ realize that you have a chocobo dressed up like Santa Claus, and currently checking his list…twice?"

"Chococlaus here is only an infant. But you can't blame them for getting into the spirit." Master Darlavon laughed.

The chocobo patted on Kyle's leg for attention. Kyle turned to face it. The chocobo handed the list to him. Kyle picked it up and read through it. He noticed his name on the list.

"Hey, my name is in there…" he said with a smile. But then his smile quickly faded, "wait a minute… which list is it? The naughty list or the nice one?"

"I'm positive it's the naughty one." Perry swooped in the conversation, "Kyle here has been a bad boy all year long: exploiting innocent people, stealing personal properties…"

Kyle bit his lips, "Perry."

"…scheming against officials, getting trouble with the law…"

"Perry?"

"…not paying his taxes, lying through his teeth…"

"PERRY?!"

The parrot faced Kyle, "What?"

"Shut…up." Kyle gnashed.

"Having a chocobo dressed up like Santa Claus and carrying a list may prove your chocobo to being in the holiday spirit, but it doesn't prove that Santa Claus himself exists." Lombard joined in the conversation, "Every night on Christmas Eve, I would stay up till at least three to four o'clock waiting for Santa Claus to come with my presents and every Christmas morning, I would wake up with the gifts under the tree and the cookies and milk gone!"

The gang looked confused. Kyle scratched his head, trying to understand Lombard's story, "So what's your point? Santa Claus doesn't exist because he always runs late?"

"No. It proves that Santa Claus doesn't exist because—" Lombard paused. What he was saying in the last ten seconds proved his point wrong instead.

"It doesn't matter what you believe." Master Darlavon said, "What matters is that you still believe in the magic of Christmas, despite all situations. Remember. It lies in your heart."

There was an awkward silence in the airship as Lombard, Kyle and Perry turned to stare at Master Darlavon.

"Did you steal that from _The Polar Express_?"

"Doesn't matter where he stole it." A female voice spooked everyone on the ship. They turned around to see the three judges clad in armor approaching them, uninvited, "What we care about is the queen's wishes." Illua said, "And you are all a danger to her wishes."

"You know what we do to people who disrupt the queen's wishes?" Folmarv sneered.

"We kill them." Bergan charged up a dark energy ball and unleash a Darkra spell, aiming right at the gang. Perry jumped in front and ends up getting blasted to the sky. A direct hit.

"Perry!" Kyle shouted.

"Damn that parrot." Illua hissed.

"That damn parrot happens to be family!" Kyle hissed, "And _nobody_ messes with my family!"

"Oh, shut up." Folmarv snapped his fingers, summoning a stampede of Mimics and Iblis espers. The Mimics looked like mechanical spiders while the Iblis looked like red-colored elves with horns and feet of chickens. The gang got surrounded.

"The Queen of Bevernia has put a bounty on you, Kyle Nasher, for stealing her precious Christmas Star from the royal property. Whether you're dead or alive, it doesn't matter." Bergan sneered.

Lombard turned to face Kyle, "You're a wanted person?"

Kyle couldn't respond. He did felt like a wanted person. Taking some precious artifact from royal ground was pretty much like stealing. And hearing from officials that _that_ artifact is indeed the Christmas Star, this proves one thing: there _is _such thing as a Christmas Star. But that also means… Christmas is in trouble! And Valeria too!

"After them!" Illua ordered and the espers went berserk.

Not far behind Lombard's ship rode the Strahl and the Galbana, Balthier and Vaan's airships respectively. They notice Lombard's ship shaking and rumbling due to the turmoil.

"What's going on in there?" Balthier wondered.

"It looks like there's a big turmoil in that ship in front of us." Fran said.

Vaan looked over to his left and noticed a flying sign panel that says, "Beware: violent snowstorm. Rule the skies quietly."

"Oh no." Vaan muttered.

* * *

"You want a piece of Lombard? You got it!" Lombard pulled out his axe, swung it around and made a stance. 

The creatures surrounded him and jumped. Lombard delivered a spin attack, slashing them. But he missed a few Iblis. The Iblis danced rapidly around Lombard. Lombard couldn't hit them at that speed and started getting dizzy.

Kyle pulled out his nunchakus, twirled them around like a ninja and formed a stance. He rammed through a dozen espers, until he jumped in the air to deliver a meteor hit at many more espers, mostly the mimics.

He landed on his feet and came face-to-face with Illua. He took a stance, ready to fight. Illua just smiled, "Impressive." She said as she had been watching him fight the Espers. But then she added, "For a no-good, yet good-looking meddling twerp."

"If what you said is true about the Christmas Star," Kyle said, "then that means…"

"That's right, boy. Santa Claus exists." Illua said and the judges laughed on cue.

Kyle sneered, "Then you're after Santa Claus and Valeria."

"Not us, the Queen. And she wants nothing else as a bundle to her precious gift…well, except your body."

Kyle raised an eyebrow, "Really?" he pointed at his chest, "This body?"

"Your _dead _body." Illua replied.

Kyle felt his arms being pulled from behind in a lock hold. Folmarv and Bergan held him hostage. Kyle struggled to break free, "HEY! Let go!"

Folmarv pulled a knife over Kyle's neck, "One more word outta ya and it's bye-bye to your head."

Illua began charging her dark ball. Kyle gulped. Just as Illua was about to shot her blast at Kyle, an Iblis flew right in Illua's face, knocking her down. The dark ball faded and the Iblis landed on a button at the ship's control center.

HHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!!!

The ship made a strident sound and the skies suddenly started shaking. Everyone stopped what they were doing and tried to hold their balance.

"What's going on here?!" Illua screamed.

"Wait a second. I didn't know the sky could shake!" Lombard said.

Kyle noticed the three judges weren't paying attention to him. Now was his chance. He delivered an elbow strike on both Bergan and Folmarv's stomachs and jumped on Illua, tackling her to the ground. Illua let go off her Grimoire.

The Grimoire opened up and flipped its pages endlessly in reaction to the skies growling in fury and the winds blowing violently. Everyone looked up, and their faces turned shocked and frightened.

The sky pirates on both the Strahl and Galbana turned around as well. Their jaws dropped at something disturbing and dangerous. A large tornado, violently blowing snow and ice everywhere was heading straight for the ships.

"A snowstorm!" Penelo gasped.

"Hang on tight everyone!" Balthier ordered.

Vaan ran for the ship's control center and just when he was about to reach the piloting stick, the Galbana trembled aggressively.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"

The Galbana went one side, knocking everyone's balance and putting them unconscious. The snowstorm had taken Vaan and Penelo's ship with it. It was now hot on the Strahl's tail.

Balthier pushed the acceleration button and piloted his ship as fast as he could. Fran and Nono both looked behind to see the snowstorm giving chase.

"We're not going to make it, kupo!" Nono shouted.

"We _are _going to make it. We're not going to end up getting swallowed by the snowstorm like Vaan and his novice pirates!" Balthier sounded sure and certain, but too late it was.

The snowstorm grabbed onto the Strahl's end and pulled the ship with it. Now the snowstorm had its next victim in sight: Lombard's airship.

"You think we're going to go down that easily, boy?!" Bergan shouted through the violent winds as the snowstorm was quickly approaching. The judge pulled out a gun, aimed at Kyle, and pulled the trigger.

Kyle felt a heavy shove on his side and fell on the ground. He looked up to see Lombard standing, facing Bergan with the gun. Kyle caught a glimpse at Lombard's stained chest. It was blood.

Lombard swerved around before landing on the ground. Crash!

Before Kyle could stand up, the winds got even stronger and brutal and in a matter of second, the Lombard's ship pulled itself into the snowstorm, meeting its doom.

**

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**

**Coming Up: Chapter 4**


	5. Chapter 4: One Way to Noel

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix. _**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete _**

**The Christmas characters belong to Christmas **

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

* * *

**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 4 – One Way to Noel **

**

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**

Tomorrow would be Christmas Eve in the world and the Royal Capital buzzed with people from all over going about their last-minute errands.

Foreigners have long gone finished with their traveling plans and were on their way to their respective Aerodrome, ready to go to either their countries or their relatives' to spend the holiday. Most of them have either arrived at their destination since last week, or they have just arrived.

That was the case with Sage Mikoto's extended family: her sisters, her mother, father, godbrother, lots of cousins, many nephews, and a couple of nieces. They recently left the local commercial center and were heading home, carrying lots of shopping bags filled with gifts.

"Wow, Mikoto. All of these gifts for Kyle?" Her first sister said.

"Not just Kyle. Her parrot too." Her second sister complained.

"You must love this adopted kid of yours dear." Her mother said with a smile.

"Sure I do." The elderly sage said, "Even if he's a pain in the neck. Yet, it's the holidays. And everyone, including you all, will be receiving gifts." She smiled.

"I wanna meet that fella of yours." The father eagerly said, "He sounds like a sport. And that parrot too. How did you say you found it?"

SPLAT!

The relatives backed away, shrieking at something hideous and full of feathers that just landed on the ground in a splat. Sage Mikoto immediately recognized the creature: Perry.

"Like that." Mikoto gasped then ran up to the parrot and gently picked up its half-plucked body, "Oh my heavens, Perry. What happened?"

Perry slowly opened its eyes, "S-S-Sage…" his voice came in a whisper.

The sage jittered, "Where is Kyle?"

**

* * *

**

Standing between Bhujerba and the end of the world was a floating island covered in water, only known as the sky sea.

Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, and Fran have ended up there along with their other pirate comrades, stranded on a small island in the midst. The Strahl was gone but the Galbana was brutally damaged, enough to require days of repairs.

Filo looked over the horizon, in hope to spot something, but nothing came to sight.

"Y'know. You're going to strain your eyes if you keep doing that." Kytes told Filo when he noticed her squinting.

Filo gave him an annoyed look, "You're going to lose your voice quick if you don't shut up."

Non and Montblanc were at the control center of the Galbana, working on the ship's fixtures. After about an hour, they stopped.

"Is the ship working?" Penelo asked the moogles.

Nono shook his head, "Not a bit, kupo. We may need professionals to make this ship new again."

"Plus, we're in the midst of nowhere, kupo." Montblanc added. "I don't think we'll ever make it to Bhujerba."

"Then if we're to save Christmas," Balthier began, "we are much obliged to put that fate on someone else. That's one option. Or we cross the sky sea and head for the North Pole."

"But from here to there will take hours!" Vaan complained, "And what if no one takes that mission?"

"Hellooo!" Filo got annoyed, "Did you forget what I've said earlier? Reports have it that someone is actually pursuing this mission."

"But what if they give up that mission because they don't believe in Santa Claus?" Vaan pointed out.

"Like you." Kytes poked fun. Filo elbowed Kytes.

"It is impossible to _not _believe in Santa Claus." Balthier opinioned, "And I'm not saying that because I know the fella."

"We all know the fella. Hello? Remember?" Vaan reminded Balthier.

"You guys need help?" The voice of Ramza caught the sky pirates' attention. Filo looked over the horizon to spot him with Delita, rowing on a boat toward them.

They arrived on shore and, after a brief introduction, Ramza and Delita entered the Galbana to see what they could do to fix the ship.

"Only Mustadio knows how to do this." Delita rubbed his chin, "But let's see what I can do."

Delita took the front seat and studied the ship's control panel. There were lots of buttons and switches. "mmm…" he said. He then looked down, located a switch below the panel, flipped it and the ship functioned again. The sky pirates were in awe.

"How did you do that, kupo?" Montblanc gasped.

"Oh. I just flipped the emergency switch." Delita said, "No biggie."

"Delita. You're amazing." Ramza said.

The sky pirates immediately invaded the Galbana and the pilots, Balthier, Fran, Vaan, and Penelo took over the ship. But there were only two seats.

"Y'know this is my ship." Vaan looked at Balthier.

"Yeah, but I'm more experienced than you." Balthier said.

"If you were that experienced, you wouldn't have crashed yours." Vaan got personal.

"Oh yeah? Well, I wasn't the one who stood behind like a chicken." Balthier provoked.

"You wanna dance, Balthier?!" Vaan shook his fist.

"I don't dance. Dance is for sissies. And you're in that category!"

"Well, you're in the chicken category!"

"ENOUGH!" Fran let out a strident shriek. The arguing boys hushed up. Fran continued, "I don't wanna _hear _another word coming out of your mouths."

Vaan and Balthier pointed at each other, "He started it."

While no one paid attention, Delita sneaked in to a secluded area on the ship. He opened up one of his red gloves from his left arm to reveal an electronic watch. He pushed a couple of buttons and began speaking on it.

"We've found a stranded airship, located at the sky sea between Bhujerba and the North Pole. Do you copy?"

A distorted voice replied to the message. Delita listened attentively, "… hm-mm…… hm-mm……What? You're not serious, are you… sigh… all right…… all right I said!…I'll find the Christmas Star…" he gulped that the next phrase "… kidnap Atnas and then head for the North Pole…now, do your part of the deal and give me the location of Bhujerba from here…"

Another moment of silence. "Got it… I'll carry on my mission. But this isn't over; remember that, Judge of Wings."

With that, he hung up, slipped his glove back on to conceal the watch, and rejoined the party.

**

* * *

**

Kyle's eyelids fluttered open. He felt his body lying peacefully on a soft bed. He blinked a few times to clear off the blurry images, revealing the face of a brown-haired boy wearing a red French-style hat, towering over him. It was Luso. But Kyle never saw him before.

"Hey. You're okay?" Luso asked.

"Where am I?" Kyle coughed. His throat was so raw, he could barely speak.

Luso didn't answer him. He turned away and called, "Hey! Over here! He's awake."

Kyle saw two more figures gathering around him: A Moogle and a silver-haired girl hunter, Hurdy and Adel.

"Wow. You looked beat!" Adel said, "Glad we found you when you were out cold and not dead."

Kyle slowly raised his head up, but the dizziness arrested him to do so. He collapsed back on the bed in pain. Luso, Adel and Hurdy got alerted.

"Don't stand up! You still haven't recovered yet." Adel exclaimed.

"Wh-what happened?" Kyle moaned.

"Your ship crashed right in Bhujerba!" Hurdy explained, "At least not in the city."

"Are you some sort of sky pirates?" Luso asked, "Because that would be so cool! Meeting an actual sky pirates. Are sky pirates really mean? Are you mean?"

"Luso!" Adel exclaimed.

Luso shrugged, "What? Somebody gotta ask questions around here."

"I'm looking for someone…" Kyle tried to sit up again. He managed to ignore his dizziness this time.

"Oh crud!" Luso immediately remembered they have to find Atnas, so did Adel and Hurdy. Kyle noticed, "What's wrong?"

The trio froze.

"…well…" Luso shied away.

Hurdy took over before it got awkward, "we just remembered. We forgot to do some last-minute holiday shopping."

"Right! Right!" Adel joined in, "And Christmas Eve is like tomorrow, and I still haven't found something I personally like!" she giggled.

"Wait…" Kyle reached his arm toward them, "just please, hear me out." He gulped, "First of all, I'm not a sky pirate. Someone else is." He reminisced what happened to Lombard involving the three judges.

Luso raised his brow in disbelief, "You're not?"

"No. And you may think I'm crazy, but…" _should I tell them? _Kyle wondered. These three strangers have helped him already, so why shouldn't he tell them? He went on, a bit confident, "I'm on a mission."

This caught the trio's attention. Kyle continued, "I'm from the Royal Capital Ivalice and work at the tavern there. I was sent on a mission to find…" he gulped again, "…the Christmas Star."

The trio gasped. Never did they think in their wildest dreams they would meet another person carrying on this magical yet impossible mission!

"We're on that mission too!" Luso exclaimed.

Kyle jumped off his bed and really sat up. His eyes stared back at Luso in utter surprise, "You are?"

"So that means you're also looking for Lord Atnas?" Hurdy exclaimed, "And the star wielder!"

"I know the star wielder." Kyle replied, "I'm her best friend." He then looked troubled, "A best friend who made a terrible mistake."

"If it makes you feel any better, we've met her." Adel announced.

Kyle's heart skipped a beat, "Where?"

"She's here in Bhujerba, staying with Marquis Ondore at the Ondore Estate, but you need an authorized access there." Adel then faced Luso, "Which reminds me. Luso will escort you there."

"What?" Luso resounded, "Me?"

Before he could open his mouth to argue, Adel cut him off, "We'll find Atnas ourselves. Does that make you feel better?"

Luso growled under his breath. It was like she read his mind. "You're creepy."

"Thank you." Adel smiled, "Come on Hurdy. Let's go check on Cid's progress on the search."

Hurdy frowned, "What search?"

"The search for Lord Atnas." Adel replied sweetly.

"The only search that Cid is doing is shopping for your stupid velvet fashion."

"They're not stupid!" Adel's voice quivered in anger.

* * *

Two guards, clad in gray armor and concealed helmets walked up a few steps toward the entrance of the Estate until they were stopped by two more guards.

"At ease, soldier." The first guard-on-duty ordered.

"What are your reports?" the second guard-on-duty asked.

The two guards looked at each other. They whispered to each other, _what are they talking about? _

_I dunno. _

"Aren't you two supposed to be surveying the streets today? Isn't that your duty?" the first guard-on-duty asked.

"Right. Right." The first surveying guard cleared his throat, "…Nothing's great, nothing new whatsoever."

"But on the plus side. It supposed to snow on Christmas Day." The second surveying guard informed.

"Christmas?" the second guard-on-duty chocked, "Who's in the mood for Christmas with the end of the world approaching?"

"Can we just get inside?" the first surveying guard got annoyed.

The two guards-on-duty took a few steps away from each other, allowing access to the estate. "Go right ahead."

The guards entered the estate and made their way down the antechamber into the audience chamber, adjacent to the drawing room. The ivory floor was rather slippery and loud, so it was like being on a rink.

The guards removed their helmets. It was Luso and Kyle.

"Next time someone talks about the end of the world before Christmas, I swear—" Kyle clenched his teeth.

"There she is." Luso pointed at Valeria exiting the drawing room. Kyle's face lit up at her sight.

"Valeria!" he shouted.

Valeria spotted Kyle and gave him a look of surprise, "Kyle!" she faced Luso as well but wasn't surprised to see him, "Luso?"

"Thank goodness you're safe!" Kyle let out a sigh of relief.

"What are you talking about I'm safe?" she looked confused.

"There's something you should know about the Christmas Star." Kyle began.

"What about it?"

"Well…"

"Valeria!"

The voice of Marquis Ondore resounded through the chamber. The boys watched the Marquis approaching in haste, "There you are. Talking to people."

"Great Uncle." Valeria smiled, "This is…"

The marquis interrupted, "Ah, your best friend." he squeezed in between Valeria and Kyle and placed a hand on Kyle's shoulder plate, "Fancy meeting you here. This I, the ruler of Bhujerba. Perchance, a welcoming snack."

Kyle shook his head, "Not really, Sir. I'm not hungry. I must speak to Valeria, if you could please—"

"Oh, come on now. You're our guest." The Marquis insisted, "You'll have plenty of time to eat, drink and be merry in our estate. Besides, it's the holidays."

"Not for long." Kyle muttered, not realizing that the Marquis heard it.

"Excuse me?"

"Your Marquis…" Kyle paused, "…if I may call you that…"

Valeria giggled once more. Kyle continued, "I must deliver this matter to Valeria before it's too late, but if you insist, I still can share it to you as well but this might come as a shock."

"Bah, young one. Try to relax, would ya?" The Marquis smiled. But it was rather a creepy smile. It was a gnash of the teeth. What's more suspicious was that the Marquis squeezed Kyle's shoulder, cracking the shoulder plate, like he was trying to shut him up, "It's the holiday season, Christmas is in two days, let's savor every moment while we're at it."

_Savor? _Kyle winced. Somehow the Marquis knows about the end-of-the-world situation and yet he's not doing a single thing about it!

Before Kyle could argue, he heard Luso scream, "That chocobo's dressed up like Santa Claus!!"

Luso spotted Chococlaus entering the chamber. Chococlaus saw Kyle. Kyle saw Chococlaus. Chococlaus panicked and ran.

Luso turned on his heels and started running for it. But the guards blocked his road.

"What are you talking about?" The Marquis spoke, "A chocobo that is dressed up like Santa Claus?"

"It's here in this estate!" Luso exclaimed, "You heard of these Christmas fables about a Chocobo dressed up like Santa Claus, and goes from house to house to check up on kids for his naughty-and-nice list, right? Like the flying reindeers or the working elves…" his voice quivered with excitement, "I saw it with my own eyes!"

The guards shook their heads, not believing a word he said. Luso faced Kyle and clasped his hands together, "Please tell me you saw it right?"

"I have to be honest, I didn't see it now but I saw it exactly like that on my way here."

"That could mean one thing! Come on!" Luso pushed the guards out of the way. Kyle followed, "Luso, wait!" Then Valeria, "Kyle!"

The guards twirled around, dizzy.

"Guards!" the Marquis shouted.

More guards gave chase. They zoomed past the antechamber, crossed the courtyard, and reached the gardens, all while avoiding obstacles on the way. The Chocobo ended the chase by jumping onto someone's back. The person didn't budge. It's like he didn't feel the chocobo.

"Sir! Stop that chocobo!" Luso said.

The man turned around. Kyle saw his face and stunned, "Master Darlavon?!"

Master Darlavon simply smiled, "Oh, hello boys." He faced Valeria and greeted as well, "Valeria."

"Seize them!"

The guards constricted Kyle and Luso from behind. Master Darlavon raised his hand to them, "Let them be. It's okay."

"But these are the Marquis' direct orders." One of the guards said.

The Marquis entered the garden, "Do what he says." He ordered.

The guards obeyed.

"So you know Master Darlavon too." The Marquis stated.

"You're alive!" Kyle beamed, "But…" his smile faded, "…where's Lombard?"

"I do not know, sadly." Master Darlavon shrugged.

"Have them escorted to their guest chambers." The Marquis ordered the guards, "And please, be gentle."

"Aye!" the guards were ready to take Kyle and Luso, but Valeria stopped them. "Wait, Great Uncle! Did you forget? Kyle wanted to tell us something about the Christmas—"

"Like I said, we'll talk afterward." the Marquis sounded a bit annoyed, "Besides; don't we have more important things to do? We barely had time to spend together since your arrival."

The Marquis was right. It's been only a day since she came in Bhujerba and she didn't had the chance to hang out with her great uncle, "You're right." She said before facing Kyle, "We'll talk later."

"I hope so!" Kyle exclaimed as the guards dragged him along with Luso, "And if we _are_ guests, how come we are taken to our guest chamber _against _our will?"

* * *

"So here's the deal." Delita had gathered the sky pirates and Ramza together on board the Galbana's deck, "The way to the North Pole is very far comparing to the way to Bhujerba."

"Got that right." Filo muttered.

Delita continued, "However, there happen to be a quick detour to the frozen land, in Bhujerba; plus travel time from here there doesn't take at least three hours."

"Why didn't you mention that _before_?" Vaan hissed.

"This information is very up to date." Delita said, "I've got it from—" he cut himself short when he saw Ramza shaking his head and hands, looking fretful. Another word, he thought, and he could expose not only himself but Ramza as judges hired by both the Queen and Prince Lionheart. Plus, there would be more suspicions rising about Delita himself, especially with his secret alliance with the so-called judge of wings

"…your compass." He finished.

"What compass?" Balthier cocked his head on one side.

Delita pointed over the control panel. The pirates noticed a small handheld electronic compass, sitting untouched on the control panel, "That compass." He said.

"I didn't know we had a compass." Vaan awed.

"Wait a minute. How can you _not _know that you had a compass?" Balthier crossed his arms.

"Don't sky pirates usually need a compass?" Vaan countered.

"If they wanna be reckless and lost. Like you." Balthier got personal.

The sky pirates went "Ooohhh!!"

"You wanna _dance_, Balthier?!" Vaan shook his fist, "I think you do!"

Balthier scoffed, "Dance is for sissies. And you're—!"

"—in that category." Penelo mouthed exactly as Balthier said.

"Well, you're in—"

"—the chicken category!" Fran also mouthed exactly as Vaan said.

The rest of the crew joined Ramza and Delita at the control center, leaving Balthier and Vaan alone to have their spat. The two teens took over the Galbana and initiated it for take-off.

**

* * *

**

**Coming Up: Chapter 5**


	6. Chapter 5: Betrayals

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix._**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete_**

**The Christmas characters belong to Christmas**

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

* * *

**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 5 – Betrayals**

**

* * *

**

"Marquis Ondore is very suspicious." Luso paced around the guest room, while Kyle simply reclined on a sofa, "The way is acting, it's as if he wants the worst to happen."

"Don't remind me." Kyle sighed, "Whenever I tried to talk to Valeria, he would interrupt…and don't get me wrong but, it's seems Master Darlavon was not expecting me to survive the crash. His greeting was a bit detached compared to his smile." He recalled, "Unless your friends are lucky, we won't be able to find Atnas and save Christmas in time."

Luso then faced Kyle, "You don't think…Master Darlavon and the Marquis are the evil ones who are trying to get rid of Christmas, no?"

Kyle shook his head, "I doubt that. They're maybe suspicious, but not evil."

"How do you know? Have you met them?"

"Oh, I've met them. And believe me, they're definitely evil." Kyle remembered encountering the three judges at Lombard's airship. The horror he faced, the terror he managed to endure, what has happened to both Perry and Lombard. For once in his life, he wished he was hearing Perry squawking at him again instead of the deafening silence of the so-called guest room.

"Did I hear you right that you're looking for Lord Atnas?"

The boys caught sight of an elderly man standing by a nearby door. He sported a blue robe with dark sashes and carried an alchemist's staff. His pacing speed was rather slow since he walked with the staff.

"Yes. Do you know of him?" Luso asked.

"I am him." The old man said.

Kyle jumped off the sofa, excitedly, "You're Atnas?"

"As in _Lord_ Atnas?" Luso exclaimed.

"The guy who petitioned the mission? The wizard behind this whole controversy?"

The old man nodded.

"So tell me," Kyle began, "What's the deal here?"

The old man turned around, his back on the boys, his eyes staring at the starry evening sky, " 'The magical stones dwell the continent of Ivalice. Magicite, Nethicite, and Auracite. One, the Auracite, can summon but one can control. A mistake and it triggers a quake. The end is near, we will soon all say. Nevertheless, an earthquake followed by a stone, in the midst of a royal soil it will land, and whoever possesses it will gain total dominance over the land. A stone by any other name shall meets, a new legend of Christmas rise in the midst of agony.' "

The boys looked ever confused. Atnas faced them, "Ever heard of the Celestial Auracite?"

The boys shook their heads. Atnas opened his palm and sparkling dusts of snow began to build over it, forming a snow globe. The snow globe displays the event that happened with Vaan and the sky pirates at the Glabados Ruins. "These broken shards were once known to have the power to control the galaxies. That is according to legend. What the legend doesn't know is this auracite's true power."

"Which is?"

"Keeping the spirit of Christmas alive in the world." Atnas replied, "Without the Auracite, this year's Christmas will be the last Christmas in Ivalice."

Luso shook his head, "No. We can't let that happen."

The old man continued, "Yes. We can't let this happen. And it's possible to restore the spirit." The snow globe displayed an image of the Christmas Star, "and this star is the answer."

"The Christmas Star." Kyle stared once again at the artifact.

"To restore Christmas, the star must be placed at the very top of the Christmas Tannenbaum located at the North Pole's Square. But only someone with the brightest Christmas spirit is eligible to do this task. That is why I posted this mission all over Ivalice's taverns: to be able to find someone as high-spirited about Christmas as well as being able to locate the star." Atnas said.

"Lord Atnas, we were able to locate the person possessing the Christmas Star." Luso said, "It's Kyle's girlfriend Valeria. As soon as we found her, we tried locating you."

"Hey!" Kyle exclaimed, "She's not my girlfriend. She's a friend." Kyle then faced Atnas, "She's my best friend… see, what happened was…"

"You don't have to explain this to me Kyle." Atnas smiled, "I know it wasn't your fault to give her the Christmas star. Indeed, it was a beautiful gesture of your part."

_Wow. This Atnas person did sound like Santa Claus himself. _Kyle's heart glowed when he heard Atnas's compliment.

"That's why I ended up at the estate: to talk to her the same way I talked to you boys." Atnas continued, "But the Marquis told me to stay here in this lovely bedchamber until Christmas Day and I've been locked here for two days now."

"So you're here to tell me that you were in this room for two straight days?" Luso exclaimed, "But the Marquis told us you were in town!"

"I may never understand why he told you such thing." Atnas shrugged, "Maybe he forgot I existed."

"Or did it ever occurred to you that this so-called lovely bedchamber…is a prison?!" Kyle exclaimed.

Luso nodded in agreement with Kyle, "Now that you've mentioned it, Kyle. It feels kinda lonely here."

"Wait a minute…" Kyle heard a light bulb on his head. He formed a sneaky smile. He ran for the door, puts an ear on it, then faced Luso and Atnas, "…I got an idea."

**

* * *

**

A heavy-armored guard stood behind the door to the guest bedchamber, staring up the ceiling to do his daily count-the-tiles again when he heard the door creak open. He looked down, his eyes glaring at Kyle, "Whatcha want kid?" he blurred.

Kyle grinned, "Hi… yeah…I was wondering. Do you smell smoke?"

"Do you take me for a fool?" the guard grunted, "there is no way I'm going to fall for this—"

"Hey I'm serious man. I am smelling smoke." Kyle sniffed. He gently rubbed the blue round amulet necklace that was around his neck.

The guard started sniffing. He really _was_ smelling smoke. "You're right. Where does it come from?"

He faced a smiling Kyle. He raised an eyebrow, "Hey, what are you smiling—?" The guard stopped talking when he felt his butt heating up. He looked down. It was fire!

The guard screamed and ran around trying to turn off the fire that spontaneously appeared on his buttocks until he left his post.

Kyle exited the room, following Luso and Atnas.

"Wow, Kyle. How did you know this guard was going to catch on fire?" Luso asked, "And badly I might add."

"Let just say I took some classes at the Academy." Kyle winked, "Now, to find Valeria."

* * *

Valeria couldn't take this anymore. She was in the audience chamber trying to get away from Adel, Hurdy, and Cid who were all over her about the Christmas Star she got from Kyle, saying that danger will happen if she doesn't cooperate. 

"Look, you two. Kyle gave me this star, and there's no way this precious little thing will put me in harm's way." Valeria said.

"You don't know that." Adel said.

"Yeah…Kyle may have given you this as a gift, but he didn't know about the legend." Cid said.

"Legend?" Valeria crossed her arms.

"The Christmas legend. Interpreted by wizard Atnas." Hurdy said.

"Atnas?" Valeria blinked, "You mean Marquis Ondore's guest Atnas?"

Cid, Adel and Hurdy looked at each other in shock, "Kupopo! He's here at the estate?" Hurdy gasped.

"For a while now." Valeria said, "But great uncle said he'll be out of his guest chamber on Christmas Day."

"Valeria, I gotta talk to you." Kyle entered the audience chamber with Atnas and Luso.

Valeria is surprised to see Kyle and Atnas, "Kyle… Lord Atnas! You're not in your room? Well, whatever. Listen…"

"Valeria. Please just hear me out." Kyle interrupted.

"Not now Kyle." Valeria told him before facing Atnas, "I gotta talk to Lord Atnas." She then faced Atnas.

"And I've been meaning to talk to you too Valeria." Atnas answered Valeria sincerely.

Valeria suddenly got this strange feeling that Adel, Hurdy and Cid are perhaps telling the truth, "What is it?" she muttered to Atnas.

After Atnas told her the entire story, she _really_ got that feeling. She immediately felt guilty for not listening to Kyle earlier after Kyle told her his side of the story.

"Kyle… I'm—"

Kyle shook his head, "No, Valeria. _I'm_ sorry. If it wasn't for me giving you that star, this whole thing wouldn't have happened."

"But…Perry…" Valeria felt a tear streaming down her left cheek, "…killed by these heartless judges…and Lombard… …who is Lombard?"

"He was a nice Seeq." Kyle's voice sank, "I barely knew him, but if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here."

"If it wasn't for those sky pirates, we wouldn't be here." Luso said, "According to Atnas, they're the one who started this whole thing."

"How?" Cid asked.

Just as Luso was about to open his mouth to reply, Marquis Ondore and Master Darlavon came in the chamber, "What is going on here?" The Marquis gasped as he saw Atnas.

"And they're the one who are cooperating." Luso pointed the finger at both Ondore and Darlavon. The duo looked confused.

"What are you talking—?"

Ondore tried to speak, but Kyle interrupted. "Save it, Marquis. You know exactly what we're talking about: the false information about Lord Atnas' whereabouts, the ongoing interruption whenever we tried to talk to Valeria, taking us into that guest bedchamber against our wills…" He then faced Master Darlavon, "And you, Master. I don't know what you did wrong, but that smile you gave me was phony…" he narrowed his eyes, "Christmas is about to be gone forever, but your actions prove you are against our mission to save it. Let's face it, you two. You're trying to destroy Christmas."

"But that ain't going to happen because we told Valeria everything." Luso said.

"And these kids are coming with us to the North Pole to fulfill their mission." Atnas finished, "Whether you like it or not."

For the first time ever, Master Darlavon stopped smiling, "I don't." he said a bit coldly, "In fact, why don't you stick around for a little while?"

Chococlaus came in the room carrying a toy bag. He opened it, searched inside and threw on the floor snow-colored sparkles. Instantly the gang felt their feet nailed to the floor.

"I'm stuck!" Cid grunted.

Valeria faced her great uncle. She couldn't believe the mess he was involved in, "Great Uncle…why?"

"I hope you'll understand soon, Valeria." The Marquis whispered to her while showing no sign of emotions.

"Chococlaus, you know what to do." Master Darlavon ordered his bird.

The chocobo pulled out a pop-up card and flung it in the air. The card flashed, unleashing a great mist dragon. It was so colossal, his head crashed through the ceiling of the estate, alarming everyone outside.

The dragon roared as the snowstorm blew wildly into the chamber.

"This wasn't part of the mission, right?" Kyle screamed through the yowling of the winds.

"Wait a second, who summoned this monstrosity?" Marquis Ondore looked surprised at the dragon's appearance.

"Err…hello! Your chocobo did!" Luso shouted.

"Chococlaus was supposed to unleash the twelve reindeers!!" Master Darlavon proclaimed.

"The twelve reindeers?" Kyle repeated. That explained so much to the Chocobo's appearance. He _was_ really Santa's Chocobo. But how Master Darlavon is able to control it was another mystery.

"Then who's this dragon belongs to?"

"Why hello there, sweet Valeria."

A glacial feminine voice sounded familiar to Kyle. He looked up and saw a large dreadnought descending right besides the mist dragon. Inside the dreadnought were Kyle's worst nightmares: the three judges!

"YOU!" Kyle shouted. "you're back!"

Illua glanced over to him, "I wasn't talking to you, boy." She faced Valeria, "I was talking to Valeria."

Valeria trembled in fear when the three judges all stepped into three floating platforms and advanced toward her. "Say, little girl." Folmarv grinned, "How about you come with us huh? We're throwing a guillotine party on Christmas Eve and you're invited. Oh! And bring the Christmas Star with you, would ya?"

Valeria shook her head, "No way!"

"Look!" Bergan eyeballed Valeria, "Either you cooperate or we force you with our baby here." He pointed at the raging dragon, "It's only an infant, but it ain't harmless."

The beast roared on cue. Adel flashed her bow and arrow, pulled the arrow, aimed at the dragon, and took the shot. Illua stopped the arrow telepathically and cracked it in two, "Pathetic surprise. You gotta do better than that."

She telepathically threw Adel into a wall. Everyone, except the Marquis, Master Darlavon, Chococlaus and Valeria drew their weapons and stayed alerted.

"This is going to be a rather festive fight," Folmarv grinned.

"Not when we're not invited." The voice of Vaan caught many attentions in the chamber. Suddenly the wall crashed and in came the Galbana. The sky pirates as well as Ramza and Delita had a new addition: Lombard.

The seeq jumped off the ship and pulled out his sword, "Whoo's ready for some slice and dice?!" he howled.

"Lombard!" Kyle ran toward the seeq and gave him a big hug, "I'm so glad you're alive!"

Lombard pushed Kyle off him, "Okay don't touch me, son. This is my fight." He glared at the judges, "they damaged my ship, and I'm gonna damaged them!"

"Bring it on!" The judges taunted.

Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, Fran, Kytes, Filo, Ramza and Delita joined Lombard. They each pulled out a piece of Auracite and summoned a stampede of assorted Espers. The judges gasped.

"All right!" Luso pumped a fist in the air, "Show 'em who's boss!"

"Get 'em Espers." Balthier ordered.

The Espers jumped on the judges, and so did the sky pirates and the rest of the crew. Fists went flying, jaws got knocked, magicks were cast, and damages were done. There were few dodging, but more nailing in the gut. There was some recovering for the wounded. The battle went on for almost an hour.

In the end, the judges prevailed. The Espers were all wiped out. And the heroes were so exhausted, their eyes fogged up with dizziness. They collapsed on their knees.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!" the judges cackled.

"How do you like us now, weaklings?" Bergan sneered.

Folmarv barked like a dog, taunting the heroes.

"I don't."

The judges faced Atnas. The moment they lay eyes on the old man, fear took over their expressions. They were so afraid they dropped their weapons and receded as Atnas approached them.

"It's…it's…_him…_" Folmarv stammered.

"I can't believe this…" Illua shook her head, "But how?"

"I think I just peed in my pants…" Bergan wept.

Atnas aimed his palm toward the judges. CLASH!

Everything went white.

The blinding light cleared up and the heroes could see again.

"What happened?" Balthier said when he and the heroes noticed no one in the chamber. The only thing that was in front of them was a snow globe.

Luso went to pick up the snow globe, but barely held it when the globe turned red, "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! This toy is flaming hot!"

He dropped the snow globe but it didn't shatter. Inside the ball was surprising: instead of a snowy village, they saw the three judges.

"Wow. Atnas surely knows how to handle Yule Magick." Vaan said.

Luso turned to give a glare at Vaan. He angrily pointed, "YOU!"

Vaan pointed at himself, puzzled. Luso went on, "This is all your fault!"

"My fault? How is that my fault? I didn't do anything! …wait a second, what did I do to make it my fault?" Vaan protested.

"You shattered the celestial Auracite, and now Christmas is in danger of going extinct in less than 48 hours!"

"…yeah, that's kinda my fault." Vaan muttered.

"Don't fret, youngster. We're all here." Balthier said, "And sorry for the late entrance, but thanks to the High Monarchy's judges, Heiral and Beoulve, we're all here. It's all good. Right?"

He looked around for Ramza and Delita, but they were gone, "…err, has anyone seen them?"

"No one is here except us." Fran mentioned.

"Master Darlavon is gone, the Marquis is gone… who _else_ is gone?" Cid said.

"UNHAND ME! AAAHHH!" the scream of Valeria echoed throughout the estate.

Kyle immediately sprinted out of the chamber, "Valeria!" Everyone followed him.

* * *

Delita tossed Valeria's unconscious body on his shoulder. He had that look of determination in his eyes, and somehow it involved Valeria. Delita faced the far-east wall of the estate's drawing room, snapped his fingers once and out emerged a portal. 

Delita took a step toward the portal.

"Delita. Surprised to see you here."

Delita heard the voice from behind him. He whipped his head around but saw no one. He turned to stare at the portal and saw Atnas, standing right in front of him. Delita's eyes narrowed, "You."

Atnas showed no emotions.

Both Atnas and Delita stood there, uncomfortable toward each other. They heard running footsteps. They looked toward the exit to see Ramza.

"Delita. What's going on?" Ramza looked puzzled.

* * *

The heroes followed Kyle through the estate. They took many turns down the hallways, peeked in every room they could find, but there were no sign of Valeria, Delita, Ramza and Atnas. 

"Where could they have gone?!" Adel whined, "My feet are killing me!"

They reached an intersection of the hallway and a bluish light caught their attention. Kyle headed for the room with the light, "Come on!" he shouted.

The gang all reached the room. They were suddenly blinded by the bright light and everything went blank.

**

* * *

**

**Coming Up: Chapter 6**


	7. Chapter 6: NorthPole Battle

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix. _**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic, "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete _**

**The Christmas characters belong to Christmas **

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

* * *

**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance **

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 6 – North-Pole Battle **

**

* * *

**

The moment Kyle, Lombard, Vaan, Penelo, Balthier, Fran, Kytes, Filo, Montblanc, Luso, Adel, Cid, and Hurdy entered their next destination, the weather was like hell!

There were powerful gusts of icy wind. The temperature was freezing. It was impossible to keep going. It was…the North Pole!

Kytes took notice of a lamp-post the shape of a candy cane and immediately knew what this place was, "Guys! You'll never guess where we are!"

"We know where we are, Kytes." Filo said, "In the middle of nowhere. And by that, I mean we're lost."

The gang approached the lamp-post and saw the engraving on it: "You're not lost. You're here. Santa Claus Lane"

"Oh." Filo uttered, "Guess I was wrong."

"We're… here? We're actually… here?" Lombard mumbled edgily. Something he never truly believed in was standing right in front of him: North Pole.

Everyone looked as excited as ever, especially Lombard, Hurdy, Montblanc, and Kytes.

"LET'S GO SEE SANTA!!" Hurdy exclaimed.

Balthier shook his head, "Wait a minute…let's not leave our heads go into the skies here. There's no such thing as Santa Claus in the North-Pole."

The gang was long gone before Balthier ever finished talking. The sky pirate felt all alone when he saw them running down the snowy hill like happy children into the small North Pole village.

"Am I the only one here who's serious?"

Balthier took one step in the ankle-deep snow when a bright light blinded him. He tripped and fell on his back.

The light faded to reveal Sage Mikoto and Perry the Parrot.

"Now where is that blonde boy sack of drama?" Perry squawked.

Kyle looked up the hill, "Grandmom! Perry!" he smiled.

The sage descended the hill in a graceful float towards Kyle, "Oh Kyle…" she opened up her arms to hug him. Kyle approached her and suddenly the sage landed her staff on his head.

"OW!" Kyle held his head, "Why did you do that for?!"

"For almost giving me a heart attack!" she yelped, "Do you have any idea how your action ruined my Christmas? I was so looking forward to have you meet the family and you just—!"

"Ohmygosh! You're Sage Mikoto!" Vaan chocked with joy, "I've _always _wanted to meet you!!"

"Vaan, focus." Penelo told Vaan before facing the sage, "Sage. Something as far great and evil as Kyle will ruin your Christmas and everybody's Christmases if we don't do something."

"Hey!" Kyle glared at Penelo.

"Lord Atnas is in danger!" Luso exclaimed.

"And so is Valeria." Kyle finished with a sigh of regret, "And it's all my fault, Grandmom."

"Wait a minute. Who's Lord Atnas? And what's going on with Valeria? What's going on here?" Sage Mikoto furrowed her brows with curiosity.

Everyone started talking. The sage couldn't take all of the mixed information in, "Just one person, please!"

Kyle told her the entire story.

"That _is_ serious." The sage muttered.

"And if we don't act fast, we might be too late." Balthier finally descended down the hill to rejoin the group. "We must find Valeria and Lord Atnas."

"You mean Valeria and Santa Claus!" Kytes said.

"Did you just say Santa Claus?"

The gang turned to face a teenage blonde elf, wearing a red tunic and hat with brown boots, and an earring at his left ear.

"Whoa…a real elf…" Montblanc breathed in awe.

With worrying blue eyes, he said, "How is he? He left the workshop since the earthquake and never had he made his return."

"Link!" Vaan called the elf, "Santa Claus _is_ here in the North Pole."

"What?"

"He's with Ramza, Delita and Valeria." Penelo explained, "They quickly left the Estate without us and we gotta find them!"

"Okay, okay. Let's not panic." Link pulled out his blow horn from his pocket and blew, "HONNK!"

Sparkles of magic gathered around Link and the gang. The magic formed a crowd of elves and reindeers, all dressed in assorted colors: green, red and white. Each tip of their hat had a golden sleigh bell.

"Whoa…" Hurdy breathed, "Real elves _and_reindeers."

"Do your reindeers fly?" Kytes asked.

"Sure." Link replied, "Just staple on some pair of wings on their sides and they're good to go. _OF COURSE THEY FLY! _Now, can we go look for Lord Santa? We report here at the square in an hour."

The gang as well as Link and his troops went their separate ways and searched every nook and cranny for the jolly old fellow. They reunited after an hour, unsuccessful.

"Aw, sweet quinsy! In about two hours, it'll be Christmas Eve and we still haven't found Santa and the others." Lombard sighed.

"Actually, due to Ivalice's time zone difference, today _is _Christmas Eve." Grandma Sage explained.

"WHAT?!" everyone gasped.

"So we only have two hours till Christmas Day?" Kytes gasped, "And Christmas will be gone?!?"

"Actually Christmas will be gone _after_ the day itself." A feminine voice caught everyone's attention. It was Queen Remedi.

She pulled up a smug smirk, alerting everyone that she's with the bad side, "You see, if the star is not restored to its proper place by midnight, the opportunity to restore the Christmas's magic will be gone, but Christmas itself will remain still for less than 24 hours. Which means: this could be your last Christmas."

"Queen Remedi. What a surprise." Kyle narrowed his eyes, "I've heard something about you recently from your judges. You tried to kill me and Valeria weren't you?"

The queen shrugged, "What's it to you?"

Everyone readied their weapons as the queen went on, "I gave them orders and they failed me. Now, it's my turn to finish what they left behind: getting my star back, and destroying you all!"

Her body morphed into a shimmering hourglass shaped form with hair and red eyes: Li-Grim. This time, Li-Grim grew the size of a giant shimmery snowman. The snow ground froze into slippery ice, and everyone slipped and fell.

"GAAAH HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! HHAAVE YOURSELF A VERY MERRY _LITTLE_ CHRISTMAS! AND LET YOUR HEART BE _SQUASHED!!!" _

She leapt.

"Gangway!!!" Link squealed and everyone screamed and ran, but the ice slowed their paces.

Li-Grim went on a chase, crashing every home, Christmas lights, pretty much everything in her path. The queen felt like the giant snowman that was squishing ants, "I'LL DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT IS CHRISTMAS, AND TAKE MY STAR FOR TOTAL DOMINATION ON IVALICE!!! MUAH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!"

"I'll stop her!" Lombard stopped, threw his axe toward her, but the axe barely gave her a scratch. Lombard kept running… and slipping for dear life.

Vaan and Balthier stepped in. Vaan had his sword and Balthier had his gun. They unleash their attack on Li-Grim but nothing happened.

Luso, Adel, and Cid tried pulling some monk-style moves on Li-Grim, but ended up injuring themselves.

Fran, Penelo, Montblanc, and Kytes tried magick on Li-Grim, but failed.

Li-Grim was unstoppable.

But then Link heard a light bulb on his mind and blew on his blowhorn, gathering his elves and catching the gang's attention.

"We can't defeat her like this. We gotta huddle into a team." He said.

"So what's your plan?" Kyle asked, "And could you make it fast 'cause I picked the _wrong_ day to wear basketball shoes!"

"Don't we all know that?!" Fran mentioned her heels.

Link crouched, scraped some leftover snow that hadn't been affected by the queen's spell, and formed it into a ball, "One word: Snowball."

"One word: stupid." Vaan barked, "How is snowball gonna defeat her?"

"GAAH! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!" her laugh got closer and closer.

"Snowball is not going to defeat her. Magick will." Link winked. Immediately everyone knew the plan.

Sage Mikoto raised her staff and shouted, "Bubble!"

The staff glowed white and a beam of bubbles gathered into the snowball. The snowball grew, and grew, and grew, tripling its size as Li-Grim's. Li-Grim stared at the snowball in horror.

The Sage aimed the staff at Li-Grim, "THIS ONE'S FOR CHRISTMAS!!"

The snowball shot right into Li-Grim. Blast!!

The explosion was so loud and effective, it threw everyone's balance.

"Is everyone okay?" Link asked.

"Oh my gosh, look! It's snowing!" Filo pointed and everyone noticed the snow that was made due to the snowball outburst. They admired the scenery in awe as every single snowflake descended on a damaged building and made it anew. Before long, the village was restored to its former glory, like nothing ever happened; even the ice became snow again. No more slippery feet, everyone sighed.

Li-Grim became Remedi again. She slowly stood up, injured from the snowball attack, but still felt ready to fight, "So, you think you can defeat me?" she said.

"Err…yeah." Kyle said, "we just did."

"Not quite." Remedi opened her arms to the sky and a dark ball began charging into a colossal one.

"Any last words?"

Everyone gulped. They were done for. Suddenly, Remedi gasped. The dark ball disappeared in smoke, and then Remedi herself exploded into violet smokes. The smoke cleared up to reveal… a frog!

The gang stared at the frog flabbergasted.

"Did you do this?" Kyle asked

"I didn't do anything." Vaan shrugged.

"I barely know the spell." Luso said.

"Me too." Mikoto said, "And I'm a sage."

"Then who did it?"

"I did."

Everyone turned around. It was Atnas, alongside Delita. Everyone was happy to see them, but Link barely showed sign of expression. Wasn't he worried about Atnas just recently? Vaan wondered.

Valeria wasn't with the duo and Kyle got frantic, "Lord Atnas, where is—?"

"She's in my workshop. She's safe now. Don't worry about it." The old man smiled at Delita and nodded. Delita nodded in response. The old man faced the gang again, "Now, shall we head over the Christmas Tannenbaum? The ceremony's about to start."

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The heroes arrived at their destination: the Christmas Tannenbaum at the square. The tree was the largest of all trees in the North-Pole, standing proudly in the midst of the freezing festive village. Finally the moment everyone has been waiting for. After much endurance, they were finally reunited—the heroes, including the elves and reindeers—to witness the restoration of Christmas.

"Everyone." Atnas began, "I thank you ever so much for your help on this. If you haven't responded to my petition, there wouldn't be a holiday. And for that, I give you all, your Christmas wish: the restoration of Christmas and…" he faced Delita and handed over to him the Christmas Star, "…Delita."

Delita took the star from Atnas. He turned to face the treetop. He gulped. He had that anxious expression on his face like he was hesitant to do this. But he had to! He climbed up the ladder that was laid gently on the tree and with the star he reached the tree top.

Penelo heard muffling by the nearest tree. She went there and saw Ramza all tied up, with duct tape on his mouth. Penelo gasped, "Oh my gosh. Are you okay?"

She ripped the tape off his mouth, and Ramza began shouting, "Delita! Don't put the star on top! Don't put the star on top!" he then faced Penelo, "You gotta stop him!"

Because of Ramza's reaction, Penelo trembled, "What? But why?"

"He's about to—!"

Too late. Delita has placed the star on the tree top and to everyone's eyes; it shone a bright majestic light. Everyone breathed sighs of relief…for a short period!

The star's light turned red and the earth tremors. Everyone tried to keep their balance steady as the ground was rocking and thrashing nonstop.

"What's going on?" Kyle exclaimed.

The ground started cracking and out of it, lava purged out. The snow quickly melted and every home and building in the North-Pole faded into nothingness. The only thing standing was the Christmas tree and the star that has now gone into a blood-reddish color.

"Lord Atnas! What's going on?!"

Everyone turned their attention toward Atnas for help. To their surprise, Atnas formed a smile. A vicious smile.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you your Christmas wish: the restoration of_pure _evil!" Atnas cackled just as he raised his arms up in the air. Wings, made of metal and steel, sprouted off his back. His robe tore in two and the phony old man revealed himself. It was another judge: the Judge of Wings!

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**Coming Up: Chapter 7**


	8. Finale

**_Disclaimer: _****_The Final Fantasy Ivalice Alliance (Final Fantasy XII, Final Fantasy XII Revenant Wings, Final Fantasy Tactics War of the Lions, and Final Fantasy Tactics A2), plus Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and all of its characters and settings solely belong to Square Enix. _**

**_The following characters: Kyle, Valeria, and Dirk Lionheart appear in the fanfic, "Final Fantasy Versus XII" and solely belongs to author Mace the Manakete _**

**The Christmas characters belong to Christmas **

**_And finally the character Lombard belongs to me._**

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**FINAL FANTASY CHRISTMAS – Ivalice Alliance **

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**Finale **

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"Lord Atnas! B…but why?!" a surprised Vaan squealed like a girl.

"Do you see me as Lord Atnas?!" boomed the Judge of Wings, "That person's no more!"

The judge departed from the ground and started floating over the Christmas Tree and as he began to speak, two glass coffins rose from underneath the snow.

"Take a look at these sleeping faces. Soon, their vessels will be my ultimate energy. The energy required to revive me: the dark Esper Feolthanos!"

The glass coffins revealed two surprising faces.

"Valeria!" Kyle shouted.

"Master Darlavon?!" Luso exclaimed, "But how…?"

"Master Darlavon… is the jolly old fellow." Link's revelation brought shock among all.

"You mean… he's Santa Claus?" Kytes gasped.

"But we don't understand…" Penelo mumbled through her teeth.

"Understand it well." The judge of wings—or Feolthanos—cackled, "I tricked you…well, actually Delita tricked you. He was working for me this whole time."

Everyone faced Delita.

"I had to." He finally said, "He was blackmailing me. In truth, I am not an agent hired by the Royal Capital, nor a Judge of Bevernia. I am a king. Savior King of Ivalice, but not part of the High Monarchy. This creature kidnapped Ovelia, my one true love." The enraged Delita then drew his sword and pointed at the winged judge, "I will no longer be your puppet you foul creature! I'm getting Ovelia back even if it'll involve defeating you!"

"That's rich. Well, guess what? It doesn't matter because I'll destroy you anyway." The judge raised its sword and the sword began sapping all the energies off Valeria and Master Darlavon. The sword glowed and the judge started glowing as well.

Everyone watched as the judge's armor and helmet shattered completely, to finally reveal Feolthanos in person.

"HA! HA! HA! HA!"

"That explains so much, kupo..." Montblanc watched the event, "…the fear it stroke on the judges…"

"…the snow globe that burns the finger when you touch it…" Hurdy said.

"…that creepy smile he gave us…" Nono said.

"Atnas was not what we expected kupo." The three moogles said together.

"Get ready to meet your doom!" Feolthanos laughed as the sword he was once holding began charging into a dark oblivion ball. Everyone braced themselves to what was coming after the hardship, the battles and the adventure: the end of everything.

But then Feolthanos stopped charging his dark ball. A bright light has caught everyone's attention. It was the Christmas Star. Its light shone as twice as before. The light somehow was responding to… singing!

The singing was and orchestral version of "Oh Holy Night" and it came from the entire Royal Army of the Royal Capital and a choir of the Ivalice's Glabados Church, all led by the High Priest Funebris (_Final Fantasy Tactics_) and none other than Ivalice's High Prince Dirk Lionheart.

The heroes heard their tune but couldn't locate them. Link didn't know how and why the song came all of the sudden, but with no choice, he joined in. The elves and reindeers began to sing as well so did the heroes.

The Christmas Star suddenly showered the skies in light, opening up the heavens. Out of nowhere came in spirit form a beautiful maiden, carrying with her a baby child wrapped in swaddling clothes. The maiden was radiant, but the most radiant one was the baby. Everyone in the scene smiled and bowed at their presence.

"W…wha—WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Feolthanos squawked in panic.

"A new legend is born." Delita said.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

The baby started afloat above the maiden, and in a blinding flash, its radiant light flooded the setting and the entire Ivalice, breaking away every spell, restoring every life, and wiping out the faces of everything evil and impure, including Feolthanos.

No longer the place was a dried up volcano scene, it was winter wonderland again. The North-Pole has returned and Christmas has been restored in Ivalice.

Valeria fluttered her eyes open and let out a great sigh as if waking up from a long nice sleep. Kyle rushed up to her, "Valeria! Are you okay?"

"Kyle…" Valeria sat up, "…what happened?"

Kyle looked into her blue eyes and his heart felt at ease once again, "I'm just happy to see you safe, Valeria." He said with a smile.

"Girl, you missed a spectacle!" Perry swooped in the conversation, "We were all bam! And the evil dudes went like whoa! It was crazy!"

"Perry, shut up." Kyle said with a grin.

"No, I'm serious! You should have seen the look on their faces when they saw my ninja kung-fu! I got Unagi in me baby!"

Luso sneaked behind Perry with a net and caught the bird. The bird started screaming and fighting to break free. Luso, joined with his friends and the sky pirates tried to sedate the parrot.

"Lord Atnas." Link ran toward Master Darlavon who was also waking up from his sleep, "You're all right!"

The other elves and reindeers joined in. The heroes still felt unease to hear Link called Master Darlavon by the name of their enemy.

Link faced them, "Atnas is sometimes Master Darlavon's code name. He sometimes uses it to prove he's Santa Claus in person without much of the criticism."

"But the Atnas we helped out last year looked exactly like the one who betrayed us." Vaan was still puzzled to this situation.

"This is something we will look upon some other time." Master Darlavon said, "Meanwhile, I just want to thank you. Thank you all for bringing the magic of Christmas back."

"Don't thank us. Thank the people who sang earlier. They summoned a miracle." Kyle looked around trying to locate the mysterious choir, "Who and where are they anyway?"

"Who cares? Let's talk to Santa!" Kytes exclaimed and everyone rushed to Master Darlavon.

"Santa! You remember me do ya? Name's Lombard and you owe me a state-of the art toy ship!" he then paused, knowing what he said came out all wrong, "Err… wait, let me rephrase that…"

Luso shoved Lombard to the side, "Santa! So totally sorry for doubting you! Now, about my Christmas wish—"

"HEY! I want my Christmas wish too, Kupo!" Hurdy shoved Luso.

"You had your chance, Kupo!" Montblanc shoved Hurdy.

"Ever heard of little brothers first?" Nono shoved Montblanc.

Soon, everyone started charging for Santa to get their wishes heard. Perry swooped in to interfere, "Will you quit this, you morons!!"

The heroes' constant shoving pushed Perry out of the way. The serene Master Darlavon signaled everyone to stand back. In a blinking flash, his clothes instantly changed to a red velvety robe enhanced with a cape and accented with white faux-fur on the edges. His beard was twice the size as before and its color, as well as his hair, was as white as snow. He also wore a red hat. The heroes were amazed at this sight.

"Stand back, everyone, and let me show you how my work of art gets done." Master Darlavon—now as Santa Claus—clasped his hands together and began charging a golden ball. At the same moment, small bits of snow began orbiting around him. The ball grew bigger and bigger, and just when he unleashed the power, the ball split into rays of light, scattering across the skies.

Each ray of light crossed different destination: from Bhujerba to Bevernia; across many lands, seas, jagds, mountains, and sky seas; passing by Dalmasca and Lionel, traversing Ordelia and the Camoa Region, and fording the Archadia Empire and the Royal Capital. At every place each ray of light went they will release magick: Christmas Magick.

Afterward, Santa faced the heroes, "My work here is done. I thank you all again for your help."

Just as he was about to take off for his workshop, the confused heroes stopped him, "But Santa…!"

"What about our presents?" Lombard did his lips like he was about to cry.

Everyone faced Lombard. Lombard changed tune, "I mean…what about the _childrens' _presents?"

"Save it Lombard." Vaan grinned, "We know what you're up to."

Santa chuckled, "Just remember, everyone. Christmas is not all about giving and receiving gifts. Feolthanos's defeat taught us that."

The heroes still looked confused. Santa clarified, "Only the magic of Christmas come from unity. With that unity, you can bring a miracle: the miracle of life."

Just as Santa turned on his heels and headed for his workshop followed by his elves and reindeers, the heroes immediately knew what he was talking about. Christmas isn't just about shopping and getting people things, it's about family and togetherness. This adventure somehow had brought the _Ivalice Alliance _cast from across different land together, and together they made a difference. They defeated evil.

"Speaking of life, this frog's getting all dried up." Link held Queen Remedi, still in amphibian form at the palm of his hands. The frog pumped its fist angrily at the heroes and kept on squealing nonsense. The heroes laughed at her comical act.

"Don't worry, Link." Kyle picked up the frog before giving him a sneaky wink, "We'll take _good_ care of her."

"Kyle!" Valeria exclaimed, "She may be an evil queen, but she's in the shape of a sweet innocent animal."

"Right, right. Don't worry; we'll take _real _good care of her."

Everyone burst out laughing. Valeria didn't find it amusing, "Kyle!"

**

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Ramza and Delita found Dirk and his troops, alongside Funebris and his choir at a distance away from the reunited heroes.

"I knew it was you, Prince Dirk." Ramza was onto him, "You were the one who brought everyone together in harmonious singing and defeated Feolthanos!"

Dirk shook his head, "It wasn't me! What are you talking about? I just got here."

"Your Highness, remember our lecture about lying?" Funebris was now onto Dirk.

Dirk admitted defeat, "Okay, fine! It was me. I didn't want to have my family's throne relinquished by Mrs. Froggy Queen over there."

Everyone laughed to Dirk's words, except Delita who still looked depressed.

"Delita, is something amiss?" Ramza asked him, even though he knew what the problem was. His friend was still feeling guilty for what he did out of selfishness.

Delita immediately looked away, "It is nothing."

"Just remember, young Delita" Funebris approached him; "You are not at fault for what had happened earlier. I know in my heart that everyone understands it as much as you do."

"…I don't know…" was all Delita could utter.

Dirk playfully wrapped his arm around Delita, "Hey cheer up, man. It's Christmas. Not the end of the world."

Ramza joined in, "Yeah, Delita. Joy is everywhere."

"Not always…" Delita sighed, "I've lost the one I really care about."

Dirk shook his head, "I don't think so." He then pointed, "Head down this pathway and turned to your left. You'll see why."

Delita does so. He ended up in a secluded snowy area, but saw no one.

"What am I supposed to look at?" he mumbled.

"Delita…"

A familiar voice strikes him by surprise. When he turned around to see who it was, he got bowled over.

"Ovelia…"

He ran toward her and gave her a firm hug. So firm, he wouldn't let go of her. Ovelia also gave back the exact same hug. Their tears, tears of happiness, flowed down their cheek pressed against each other's. It was an emotional reunion to remember.

* * *

Christmas Day was upon the continent of Ivalice and everyone were up and at it, at 6am or later, opening presents and getting ready to celebrate the day, their way.

As the airship the Galbana glided the skies of Ivalice, the entire cast of the _Ivalice Alliance _celebrated their Christmas aboard the deck. And joining the party was Tomaj, who somehow managed to bring his tavern customers in. Luckily the ship was big enough to hold a thousand people.

Delita and Ovelia wedded on that day. The wedding was short notice but with the Christmas decorations and goodies up, it was a wonderful Christmas wedding. Ramza and Dirk were the best men while Valeria ended up being Ovelia's maid of honor.

Speaking of Dirk, the prince had so much fun on the ship that he forgot all about _his_ family. Without wasting time, he departed from the ship and reunited once again with the High Monarchy.

Luso and his friends surprised Adel with a 5000 Gil gift card, to make up for losing all of her presents in the course of the adventure. Adel thought it was shopping time again, but much to her dismay, her first bill showed up. Luckily, she got what she wanted: the Magick Lamp. And with one rub, she wished for everyone free food for life. That made her friends, especially Luso, very happy.

Vaan and Balthier spend the day exchanging blows. No not the type of blows you're thinking about. Blows of gifts. Vaan wanted to show Balthier how much he cared, but Balthier would double his proof of how much _he _cared. Luckily, Penelo prepared a buffet and had it all set before it got serenely ugly.

Kytes, Filo, and Lombard were the most happiest of the bunch: Kytes got a brand-new magic book, Filo got a new Turbo Skybandit, and Lombard got the present he has always asked for: the state-of-the-art toy ship. The trio, now that they fully believe in Santa Claus, would forever get what they want instead of getting nothing.

The Moogle brothers, Montblanc Nono and Hurdy were also united to make fun of a few things: the judges locked in the snow globe, which was no longer burning on contact, and the frog queen.

Kyle gave Valeria a star—and no, it is not the Christmas Star—it was a light magicite, which looked similar to a star. Kyle got his gift too from Valeria, but it was not what he was expected: a kiss. Perry also gave Kyle a gift: another lecture. It was something that had to do with being abandoned during the course of the adventure, but Kyle peacefully yet comically forgave him for that.

Valeria was reunited once again with her grand uncle the Marquis Ondore. The Marquis could finally spend the holiday freely with his great niece instead of having to hide and lie. And somehow, he found his Christmas gift: love at first sight with Sage Mikoto!

Sage Mikoto had brought her family onboard to meet her grandson Kyle, and boy, was he spoiled with gifts from them—including his Grandmom. Somehow, first impressions have gotten the better of the intrepid teen.

And so as this story comes to a close, it was that on December 25th, Ivalice joined together for the holiday of joy, peace, harmony and presents that is Christmas. And like this, it will remain, once a year, for an eternity.

And up the skies of Ivalice, Santa Claus, plus Chococlaus, was on the sleigh, as he and his reindeers all flew like the down of a thistle.

Ivalice heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight, "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

So did the Chocobo, "E-KWEE!"

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**End**


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